Loews removing feral cats from Universal hotels

Universal Orlando's Loews Hotels have drawn the ire of animal-rights activists once again, this time by deciding to move ahead with the removal of feral-cat colonies from its hotels' grounds.

Loews confirmed Thursday it plans to move the wild cats to Orange County Animal Services Center. Cat lovers, who protested the end of the hotels' trap-neuter-release program earlier this year, decried Loews' decision as "hypocritical and heartless." The hotels advertise themselves as pet-friendly accommodations for guests with animals, but a policy issued this week to people who work at the hotel prohibits the feeding or handling of wild animals.

"While our hotels are pet-friendly, there are important distinctions between owned pets and feral, undomesticated animals," Loews stated in a memo.

The hotel company had been hailed locally for having a model trap-neuter-release colony at the Portofino Bay Hotel, which even featured tiny, Italian-style cat mansions adorned with a plaque recognizing the program. A spokeswoman for the hotels said the company has reviewed its practices involving feral, free-roaming cats and talked with various agencies about the issue.

"The Florida Department of Health states that feral cats pose a continuous concern to communities due to the persistent threat of injury and disease," said Jennifer Hodges, a Loews spokeswoman. "The priority at our hotels is the health and safety of our guests and team members."

Animal-rights activists said the cats are too wild to be adopted as pets and face a death sentence if taken to local shelters. Kat Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Orange County Animal Services, said cats that are part of a sterilized community such as Loews' can be identified by a marking on their ears. When such a cat is impounded, the county agency notifies a non-profit group, CARE Feline TNR, which handles such cats' relocation to suitable colonies. And if a particular cat is familiar enough with humans, she said, it may be a candidate for adoption.

"We always do everything in our power to ensure healthy, sterilized community cats are promptly and safely released from our shelter," Kennedy said.